Notre Dame Football: Is a Running Back Controversy Brewing?

Notre Dame dominated Rice, but the run game still left a good amount to be desired on Saturday

Sep 12, 2026; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish running back Nolan James Jr. (2) scores against the Rice Owls during the first half at Notre Dame Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

For as impressive as Notre Dame's 52-0 win over Rice was on Saturday; it wasn't perfect.

CJ Carr threw for 253 yards while completing 16 of 20 pass attempts and throwing four touchdown passes, which equaled his number of incompletions on the day.

That said, Notre Dame's running game wasn't overly impressive against a team that was clearly inferior on Saturday.

As unimpressive as it was as a whole, one running back shined significantly brighter than the other, and as the running game tries to get its legs under it early in the season, one can't help but wonder if a competition is brewing.

Aneyas Williams the Assumed Starter All Along

Junior running back Aneyas Williams has been the assumed starter since the second Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price officially declared for the NFL draft.

Williams isn't the same kind of running back as either of those two, and that's fine, but he didn't have much of a day against Rice.

ANEYAS WILLIAMS TD pic.twitter.com/FIn3J3OPSg

— Pick 6 Pack (@Pick6PackFB) September 7, 2026

Williams totaled just 29 rushing yards on nine carries, an average of 3.2 yards per attempt. His long was just seven yards Saturday afternoon, and I'll be curious to know more about if the issues fell more on him or on the offensive line - considering you could see the change in his game last week after Sullivan Absher was inserted at guard.

Nolan James, Jr. Flashes Early for Notre Dame

Nolan James, Jr. was the more productive runner for Notre Dame on Saturday, averaging 4.8 yards per carry and finding the end zone twice. He did however only carry the ball six times, but did break off a 15 yard rush to total 29 yards in limited attempts.

Nolan James Jr. finds the end zone AGAIN. 😤

📺 Notre Dame Football on NBC & Peacock pic.twitter.com/jCpAhcsnLV

— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) September 12, 2026

James was much more productive in the passing game against Wisconsin, but only hauled in one reception Saturday for the loss of a yard.

Notre Dame Rushing Attack as a Team

I really felt going into Saturday's game against Rice, that Notre Dame had the chance to challenge 250 rushing yards as a team.

Instead, it got to just 118 rushing yards while averaging 3.7 yards per carry.

Would more James be a cure to some of those blues? It's easy to say after he had better rushing numbers on Saturday, but we're also only a week removed from Williams being the far more productive runner against Wisconsin.

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Thoughts

I assumed that Notre Dame would take a step back in the run game, as anyone would when it loses Love and Price, but Saturday's production in that department was rather disappointing.

I don't look at it as a controversy between the two. James has been impressive through two games but it's not like he's been a world-beater as of yet, either.

This is where Notre Dame's schedule to start the season works to its advantage this year. If the big boppers like Miami and the trip to BYU were right away, it'd be tough to imagine much rushing success against either, which would make wins in both very difficult.

Instead, Notre Dame gets time to work this thing out a bit so its hopefully firing on more, if not all cylinders, by the time of the BYU trip in October or when Miami comes to South Bend in November.